The following discussion of the background to the invention is intended to facilitate an understanding of the present invention. It should be appreciated that the discussion is not an acknowledgment or admission that any of the material referred to was published, known or part of the common general knowledge in any jurisdiction as at the priority date of the application.
Marketing by consumer recommendation is an established practice for most businesses. However, the existing methods by which consumer recommendations can be tracked have their own problems.
For instance, in one system, when a new customer purchases a good or service, the new customer may be asked by the sales agent if they have been recommended to purchase the good or service by an existing customer. This system is problematic in that it relies:                a) on the sales agent remembering to ask the question;        b) on the customer to remember which existing customer recommended the good or service;        c) on the sales agent to correctly identify the existing customer as the recommender of the good or service.        
It is only when all three of these factors exist can the recommender then be appropriately rewarded for the recommendation.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to overcome, at least in part, some or all of the aforementioned problems.